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Author Topic:  Possible tinnitus cure?
Ed Pettersen


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 26 Mar 2017 2:55 pm    
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John Billings wrote:
I plan on asking the tinnitus specialist when I see her in May.


I volunteered for an ear study at Vanderbilt two years ago and saw a specialist. They have no clue. They understand the problem alright but they just have no answers. Yet.
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John Billings


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 26 Mar 2017 2:58 pm    
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Yeah Ed! I keep hoping for something new. My tinnitus is louder than people speak, and that makes everyday contacts very difficult!
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Dan Robinson


From:
Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 27 Mar 2017 8:40 am    
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JB, I hope your new ENT can help you. Eager to know what she says.

In the meantime, hearing protection is my best friend. Started using in-ears with good isolation with the band.
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Ed Pettersen


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 27 Mar 2017 9:07 am    
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John Billings wrote:
Yeah Ed! I keep hoping for something new. My tinnitus is louder than people speak, and that makes everyday contacts very difficult!


I feel for you buddy and hope you get some relief. I'm lucky that mine isn't bad and comes and goes but never had it before my third sinus operation a few years ago. Don't know if they're connected. Of course boatloads of blow for 20 years didn't help either...
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Henry Matthews


From:
Texarkana, Ark USA
Post  Posted 28 Mar 2017 9:15 am    
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Again I say, this could be cured along with high frequency loss and just plain hearing impairment if money was spent on research for the ear but it's not. If it's not big bucks in the cure or treatment, they could care less. Just the way our world works.
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Jon Jaffe


From:
Austin, Texas
Post  Posted 28 Mar 2017 7:28 pm    
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I would submit the following link. It has a large economic impact particularly with people > 60y/o, and Vets. The big problem is that it is a symptom of many disease processes. John, I hope you can solve your problem.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0194599814547475
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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 28 Mar 2017 8:05 pm    
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The reason there won't be a cure is because, tinnitus is NOT a hearing problem.. many many people with perfect hearing have severe tinnitus.
Its generated within the brain itself, NOT the ears or the auditory nerve.. There have been heartbreaking instances I have read about in research literature where years ago a few people with severe tinnitus had their auditory nerves severed.. Tragically, the tinnitus remained, and the patients were now deaf as well.. I could not even imagine what those lives would have been like.. Today, NO surgeon would do such a thing.

Hearing traumas DO trigger tinnitus, as do surgeries, automobile accidents, head trauma etc.. However once that tinnitus signal is hard wired into the brain, its there, and its staying.. No drug or surgery exists that will stop it. Believe me, I went to some of the best tinnitus researchers in the country, and it was futile.
Took me 5 long years, but I am more or less habituated.. I still despise it, but these days I don;t suffer as badly as I once did, asking God to please take me home.. Crying my eyes out constantly.
It was easily the worst thing I have ever endured, for several years... Mine is extremely bad.. However, these days, I can go for hours at a time, and not hear it.. Then I will think about it for a second, and there it is.. As loud and shrill as ever.. Then I again get distracted by whatever I am doing, and forget all about it again.. At this point in my life, I get through the days ok . [thank You Lord]

I hate it, but its better than cancer I guess.... Still, I would wish tinnitus on NO ONE... Please, if you don't have it, Protect your hearing- always and forever. OVER protect!.
I don't give a shit how lousy your steel sounds with plugs in!. KEEP them in, and put friggin' muffs over them.. You DO NOT want tinnitus... bob
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Ed Pettersen


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 29 Mar 2017 12:46 am    
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Bob Carlucci wrote:
The reason there won't be a cure is because, tinnitus is NOT a hearing problem.. many many people with perfect hearing have severe tinnitus.
Its generated within the brain itself, NOT the ears or the auditory nerve.. There have been heartbreaking instances I have read about in research literature where years ago a few people with severe tinnitus had their auditory nerves severed.. Tragically, the tinnitus remained, and the patients were now deaf as well.. I could not even imagine what those lives would have been like.. Today, NO surgeon would do such a thing.

Hearing traumas DO trigger tinnitus, as do surgeries, automobile accidents, head trauma etc.. However once that tinnitus signal is hard wired into the brain, its there, and its staying.. No drug or surgery exists that will stop it. Believe me, I went to some of the best tinnitus researchers in the country, and it was futile.
Took me 5 long years, but I am more or less habituated.. I still despise it, but these days I don;t suffer as badly as I once did, asking God to please take me home.. Crying my eyes out constantly.
It was easily the worst thing I have ever endured, for several years... Mine is extremely bad.. However, these days, I can go for hours at a time, and not hear it.. Then I will think about it for a second, and there it is.. As loud and shrill as ever.. Then I again get distracted by whatever I am doing, and forget all about it again.. At this point in my life, I get through the days ok . [thank You Lord]

I hate it, but its better than cancer I guess.... Still, I would wish tinnitus on NO ONE... Please, if you don't have it, Protect your hearing- always and forever. OVER protect!.
I don't give a shit how lousy your steel sounds with plugs in!. KEEP them in, and put friggin' muffs over them.. You DO NOT want tinnitus... bob


That's interesting. When I went to Vanderbilt my specialist said it was damage to the psilli (sp?) "hairs" in the inner ear. Hmmmm...
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Charlie McDonald


From:
out of the blue
Post  Posted 29 Mar 2017 5:34 am    
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I think the psilli was an earlier explanation. I think Bob's right, the problem isn't among moving parts.
It's unlikely that the psilli would generate this on their own.
I seem to recall that doctors thought it was stiffness in the psilli, and such things can occur with aging,
but it doesn't seem to come just with age.

There is so much to learn about something that can have many causes (if the word applies) and manifest in a singular symptom.
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Barry Blackwood


Post  Posted 29 Mar 2017 8:04 am    
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I think this is the "psilli" you are referring to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereocilia_(inner_ear)


Not about tinnitus specifically, but some encouraging news nevertheless...

https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-03-20/new-treatment-could-combat-hearing-loss-regenerating-hair-cells-inner-ear
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John Billings


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 29 Mar 2017 2:31 pm    
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For youse with psilli problems, how about pouring Rogaine in your ears?
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'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
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Herb Steiner

 

From:
Spicewood TX 78669
Post  Posted 29 Mar 2017 2:44 pm    
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Y'all's theories are so... silly!
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Barry Blackwood


Post  Posted 29 Mar 2017 4:26 pm    
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Ed Pettersen


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 29 Mar 2017 11:50 pm    
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What's weird about the brain theory, which isn't that off because of course it's connected to the brain, is that when I cut down on ciggy's, caffeine and don't Neti pot the ringing goes down A LOT. That would indicate something physical in the inner ear as well as brain matter (not that I have a lot of brain matter left but...). Fascinating stuff. It would be more fascinating probably if I didn't have it!! <g> Right now just a PITA.
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Bob Carlucci

 

From:
Candor, New York, USA
Post  Posted 30 Mar 2017 2:21 pm    
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Ed Pettersen wrote:
What's weird about the brain theory, which isn't that off because of course it's connected to the brain, is that when I cut down on ciggy's, caffeine and don't Neti pot the ringing goes down A LOT. That would indicate something physical in the inner ear as well as brain matter (not that I have a lot of brain matter left but...). Fascinating stuff. It would be more fascinating probably if I didn't have it!! <g> Right now just a PITA.

your story is somewhat common.. about 10-15% of people can lower the intensity by not smoking, drinking, coffee, salt, aspirin, etc.. others can lower it with benzos, but they are extremely addictive.. Others have T that is loud at times, quieter at others.. some have it that even goes away for periods.
You are among the luckiest .. The majority live with whatever volume they have been afflicted with, and it NEVER changes. Those that have it at low levels, and can mask it with a fan, radio or TV are blessed.. the only thing that can mask mine would be a thermonuclear blast within 100 or so feet.. any further, my T would drown it out... bob
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Ed Pettersen


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 31 Mar 2017 7:17 am    
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Bob Carlucci wrote:
Ed Pettersen wrote:
What's weird about the brain theory, which isn't that off because of course it's connected to the brain, is that when I cut down on ciggy's, caffeine and don't Neti pot the ringing goes down A LOT. That would indicate something physical in the inner ear as well as brain matter (not that I have a lot of brain matter left but...). Fascinating stuff. It would be more fascinating probably if I didn't have it!! <g> Right now just a PITA.

your story is somewhat common.. about 10-15% of people can lower the intensity by not smoking, drinking, coffee, salt, aspirin, etc.. others can lower it with benzos, but they are extremely addictive.. Others have T that is loud at times, quieter at others.. some have it that even goes away for periods.
You are among the luckiest .. The majority live with whatever volume they have been afflicted with, and it NEVER changes. Those that have it at low levels, and can mask it with a fan, radio or TV are blessed.. the only thing that can mask mine would be a thermonuclear blast within 100 or so feet.. any further, my T would drown it out... bob


I have tremendous sympathy for y'all that have it that bad. It must be a terrible burden. I know my drummer has it bad and I've watched it change his personality over 25 years. Harsh stuff. With so many afflicted you'd think they'd find something soon to help. Just makes me wanna' say grrrrrrrrrrrr.
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Charlie McDonald


From:
out of the blue
Post  Posted 31 Mar 2017 8:19 am    
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I probably have a lot to say about it, but as has been pointed out, it does little good to.
I have some psilli theories--comes from the Greek, Cylla--just kidding--like maybe the ringing is the brain trying to get us to listen?

For purposes of theory, I regard the inner noise the same as a hallucination, for my porpoises. I don't so much think it's something conscious.
It has to do with one's focus, things that govern all kinds of dystonias. Resistors may be involved.

I mean to say that it's a stressful world, and the stressors that apply seem to be numerous. I don't think it's entirely non-environmental.
Lao Tzu or some other medical text or I Ching advised not taking anything that comes from the outside. So I'm not likely to think anything works.
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Herb Steiner

 

From:
Spicewood TX 78669
Post  Posted 31 Mar 2017 8:54 am    
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Practically every professional musician that I've asked who's worked multiple decades in bands with drummers and electric bassists has told me they have tinnitus to some degree... either ringing in ear or high pitched hiss (like I have)... from moderate to severe. It's so common amongst us that it's not even a topic of conversation anymore.
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John Billings


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 31 Mar 2017 12:40 pm    
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Herb,
I was always set up on the front line. Depending on the stage, the singer was next to me, and the drummer behind me. We didn't play that loud, miked everything, but there was always a ride cymbal behind my right or left ear. Even at fairly low levels, the "zinging" was right behind me.
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Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
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Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 1 Apr 2017 9:23 am    
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John Billings wrote:
Herb,
I was always set up on the front line. Depending on the stage, the singer was next to me, and the drummer behind me. We didn't play that loud, miked everything, but there was always a ride cymbal behind my right or left ear. Even at fairly low levels, the "zinging" was right behind me.

The hissing in my ear is exactly the same frequency as the crash cymbal that always seemed to end up right behind my shoulder.

Plugs. Any younger players reading this, do not hesitate to get fitted for musician's earplugs. I know they helped preserve what was left of my hearing.
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Chris Walke

 

From:
St Charles, IL
Post  Posted 6 Apr 2017 7:40 am    
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I have mild tinnitus. I "hear" it, but it generally doesn't bother me, except one weekend. Was out camping with pals in the back country in Death Valley, not another soul for miles. Our first night, my outdoors enthusiast friend told us to turn off the music and just listen to the silence. I was disappointed that there was no silence for me.
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Joe Ribaudo


From:
New Jersey, USA
Post  Posted 6 Apr 2017 11:46 am    
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So glad (and sorry) to hear from other fellow suffers.
I remember the exact day I woke up and realized that the ringing wasn't going away. It's been over a year and I still haven't forgiven myself for how stupid I was the night before. It was like, "eh, what's another db or two of hearing loss of upper mid range gonna hurt." I took the ear plugs out and that was that.
Two things really impacted by my tinnitus is reading and lyric writing. As soon as it gets quiet the "pitched hiss" (great description) is ALL I hear. And mine morphs pitch and harmonizes w/ itself most of the time, so it never really recedes into the background. Needless to say I can't trust any of my mixes worth a damn.
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John Billings


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 6 Apr 2017 12:46 pm    
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" I can't trust any of my mixes worth a damn."
Me either, but it has not affected my sense of pitch. If it's loud enough for me to hear, I can tell if it's a few cents sharp or flat. Problem is hearing it in the first place!
_________________
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
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Jim Reynolds


From:
Franklin, Pa 16323
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2017 6:00 pm    
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This is my two cents. I have been in the hearing business for over 16 years. Tinnitus is head noise, that everyone has. With normal hearing , it is masked out by the surrounding sounds. As we develop hearing loss, we start to hearing the head noise. It is more prominent in a quiet place, as in trying to sleep. The sounds is different for every person, it is very hard to deal with. There is no cure. Hearing is still not known. They only think this is how we hear. These are somethings that GOD designed that is still unknown to the medical people. The best cure is to have your hearing check, and get hearing aids if told. They are not cheap, but they don't cost what, they charge. It is a real ripe off what they charge for them. I know.
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Jim Reynolds


From:
Franklin, Pa 16323
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2017 6:10 pm    
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Joe, she's not a specialist. She is probably an audiologist and will be dealing in hearing aids. They work very well for someone with a flat hearing loss, but for someone with high freq. loss, or low freq. loss, they are hard to work with. I have worn aids for over 35 years myself, and now have a 90% loss in both ears, 76 years old. Tinnitus comes with loss of hearing. You should be able to see my other post on this. Good luck, if you'd like more info, reply and ask for my e-mail, or get from the forum. I will help anyway I can. Your hearing will only get worse. No one knows how we hear so they are just guessing, and they think they know.
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